Untitled Percabeth reunion fic
by gray-streaks
Summary: Percy and Annabeth have been separated since December. What happens when they meet again? My take on what happens directly after the first chapter of MoA.


Once the Argo II settles into its temporary place, hovering over the small city of New Rome, Leo throws the rope ladder that exists for such occasions and he, Piper, and Jason start to climb down. Jason of course could fly down on his own, but it had been decided that it's best if the three of them made their appearance together.

Jason takes the lead of course, the Romans are less likely to fire at their own men, or so he hopes. He climbs over the railing and on to the ladder easily, and hesitates, looking across the deck towards Annabeth. "You're sure you want to wait?"

"No," she laughs a bit, it's a painful sound, almost like she's forgotten how to do it properly, "but he'll be able to focus better if I'm not there, I hope, and if this goes wrong..." she trails off, not needing to finish. They've all had nightmares about what would happen if the Greeks and Romans get more focused on fighting each other than the the real enemy. "Besides," she adds trying to sound upbeat, "we're not sure if I'm one of the seven or not. Go and I'll keep these idiots from throwing things." She nods in the direction of the Stoll brothers.

Jason pauses for another moment, but nods and disappears below the ship. Piper and Leo follow a minute later.

"Travis! Connor!" The brothers let out a disappointed "Awwww!" but back away from the railing and stuff what look like smoke bombs into their pockets. Now that that's taken care of, Annabeth peers over the railing herself.

Percy still has his arms around his new friends, but he drops them as she watches. He's frowning in the direction of the rope ladder, and even from here Annabeth can see the confusion on his face, the disappointment in his eyes. And then he's scanning the ship, the disappointment gets replace with desperation as he searches frantically.

If she's being completely honest with herself, she stayed on the ship because she's terrified. Terrified that he doesn't remember her, that he found somebody else, that he blames her for not finding her sooner. She thought she needed those few extra minutes to prepare herself to meet a Percy that had no idea who she was, who didn't care, who had left her just like all the others. But, as she watches him search, looking for her, she knows how silly that was. It's too late to go down the ladder now, not without looking like a fool.

She steps closer to the rail and waits, that's all she ever seems to do these days, wait for him, until he scans back along the ship, across the assembled demigods and finally catches sight of her. Her heart clenches at the relief that floods his face as he looks her over, practically drinking her in, but she can see uncertainty there too and realizes he's just as scared as she is.

It's enough to tell her that they'll be okay, but who is that girl?

XxXx

Jason, it could only be Jason in the make-ship purple toga, was almost at the bottom of the rope ladder when Frank elbows Percy, but that's not what he's curious about. The look on his 'brother's' face could only be caused by one thing, but Hazel beats him to the punch.

"So which one's Annabeth?" She asks trying to follow Percy's gaze, but there's just too many people lining the sides of the ship, she hadn't realized there would be so many.

Percy pointed, "The blonde on the left, orange shirt."

Frank and Hazel trade eye-rolls.

"They're all wearing orange shirts," Frank observes dryly.

"That's because it's a better color than purple." Percy laughs, a little nervously, like he's not quite sure what to do with himself, "She's right there, gods she's gorgeous," He pauses a beat, still looking up at that face they can't find, and winces ever so slightly, "and she has jealousy issues."

He steps out from between them and Frank automatically takes a step closer to Hazel.

Hazel blinks, "Me?"

"Yes, you."

Frank knows a cue when he hears one and, sliding an arm around her, drops a kiss to the top of Hazel's head. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

There's a quick burst of laughter to their left, "You could try, doubt you'd last long."

Jason and his friends have finished their descent from the ship and come over to them without their noticing.

Percy grins, even as he eyes the other boy, trying to figure out what it is about him that has Camp Jupiter so devoted to him. "Frank could probably catch her by surprise, not for long, but it'd be entertaining as Hades."

Jason's eying him back and Percy wonders if he's thinking the same thing. "So you're Percy Jackson."

"He doesn't look like much."

"Leo!"

"What?"

The girl huffed and rolled her eyes, "Ignore him he's an idiot."

"Am not! I built that thing in six months, didn't I?" The Hispanic kid waves his arm in the general direction of the ship.

"It's not finished."

"Is so! Well mostly, he'll fly and sail, we can finish putting up the drywall later."

"She," Percy says automatically, flushing slightly when both the girl and Leo turned to stare at him. "Ships are she's."

"But Festus isn't and he's the figurehead, so it's a he."

Percy glanced up, towards the front of the ship rather then Annabeth, "You named it HAPPY? That thing tried to kill me once!"

"I fixed it."

The girl snorted.

"Oh shut up, Piper."

Reyna, who has been staring up at the ship in what can only be described as shock for the past several minutes, finally comes to her senses and comes to join their group. Around them the majority of the Romans, both citizens and legionnaires, were whispering amongst themselves and shooting distrustful looks towards both Percy and Jason alike.

"Right," Reyna mutters, more to herself than to either Percy or Jason, "first things first. Where are we going to put that thing?"

XxXx

Eventually, Jason, Piper and Leo leave the senate to help Annabeth land the Argo II and show the Greek campers where they can set up their tents. Percy tries to follow because Annabeth, but Reyna stops him before he's even out of his chair.

"Somebody has to explain this to the Legion."

"And that would be why Jason left so fast," Percy mutters and sighs, "I'm assuming there's a... protocol, what do I do?"

Reyna actually smiles at him, "You're learning. You know, for somebody that didn't want the job, you handle them quite well," she gestures toward the now empty senate seats, "despite not knowing how we do things."

Percy sighs, "I still don't want it, but it's not that different from counselor meetings back home, not really."

"Still, a man that doesn't wish for power."

Percy chuckles, "You have no idea, you find out soon of enough though probably. Seriously, can we get this over with?"

XxXx

It's another hour before Percy ducks into the barracks long enough to rip off his purple toga and toss it on the bed. After a half hour of dodging questions and complaints from legionnaires, he finally makes it to the large field just inside the Little Tiber where the senate had, reluctantly, agreed to let the Greeks set up a portable Camp Half-blood.

Because the Little Tiber isn't deep or wide enough for the ship, not to mention off limits by Roman law, and there isn't a dock, wet or dry, anywhere in Camp Jupiter, the Argo II isn't parked so much as it is tethered to the ground in several places so that it hovers about five feet from the ground. Rather than having a gangplank, there are several rope ladders hanging from the railing and a few sturdier wooden ones. Several demigods are lowering packs of supplies, mostly duffel"" bags and armor at this point, using a system of pulleys. Even with most of the sails down, the ship is shifting a little with the wind and Percy understands why they went with the rope.

The tents are roughly the size of the cabins back at Camp Half-blood and arranged in cabin formation around the ship with the opening of the Omega at the stern so that the ship can take off going forward. Still, they didn't leave much room, and Percy hopes the ship can go straight up. He knows how ungainly a ship can be especially in tight spaces.

Some of the tents are noticeably newer than others though they all appear to be made from the same material. Most of them don't even look completely set up and Percy's throat tightens when he realizes that the blue one near the end is the only one that does. He wonders if he'll get a chance to use it. He doubts it.

There's people everywhere, setting up tents or moving luggage and armor. Clarisse must have set up a watch schedule already as half of cabin five seems to be patrolling the borders. Percy's not entirely sure that's a good idea, but he lets it go for now. Hopefully it won't be necessary, but at least they aren't in full armor. Quite. But Percy doesn't see Annabeth anywhere.

He's just starting towards Cabin Six (Tent Six?) when Jason catches his eye and jerks a thumb over his shoulder towards the Argo. Percy shoots him a grateful look and heads towards the nearest ladder instead.

She's sitting on the railing near the mainmast, facing outward with her legs dangling down the side of the ship. It's obvious she's currently in charge of the whole operation though she seems to be simply overseeing the work rather than directing it at this point.

This close Percy notices the little details he hadn't before. Even from behind, Annabeth's usual jeans and camp shirt look like she hasn't taken them off for several days and washed them for even longer. Her hair doesn't look much cleaner and from the tangled mess it's in, she's been running her hands through it nonstop. Even from the back she looks like she hasn't slept in a week and not much then and yet...

"You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he doesn't realize he's spoken allowed until Annabeth's head snaps around so fast he can hear her neck crack.

She turns around, throwing one leg back over the rail and then the other, "No I'm not." She laughs a bit, "I'm a mess. I was going to clean up but the ship was having problems and Leo needed help and-" she's sighs, swallows, wraps her arms around herself.

She's just trying to keep herself together, trying to stay in one piece until this nightmare's over, trying to stay strong for the rest of the camp. She can't lose it, her pride won't let her, but she does anyway and she can't fight it when it happens. She has to act like she knows what she's doing, what's going on, when she's really as lost as the rest of them, if not more. She's lonely, so lonely it hurts, and it'd drive her insane if she'd let it.

And Percy can see it.

Suddenly he's taking long strides across the deck of the ship, moving so fast he surprises them both when he gathers her in his arms. But it only lasts an instant before Annabeth's legs are wrapping around his waist, her hands curling around his shoulders and she's clinging to him so tightly that by the time she buries her face against the crook of his neck it's a bit like being hugged by an octopus, but he doesn't care. He has one arm around her back, holding her so tightly he picks her right off the railing as his other hand slides into her hair and to the back of neck holding her there.

Annabeth lets out a choked sob, her fingers digging so hard into Percy's shirt he's sure he's going to have bruises. He feels her relax, the muscles in her back unknotting against his arm, as she stops fighting and lets herself collapse.

"It's okay," he breathes into her hair, "I'm here. I've got you. I'm sorry. It's okay, it's okay." It becomes his mantra as he holds her together while she lets herself fall apart.

It doesn't last long, she's been cried out for months, so it's only a few minutes later when she pulls her head up and presses their foreheads together. "It's not your fault, you hear me? It never was."

He takes his hand from the back of her head and gently wipes at her tears with his thumb. Half a second later, he grimaces and wraps that arm around her back with the other one.

Annabeth laughs, her first genuine laugh in months, loudly enough that they can hear half the camp fall silent, look their direction and give a huge sigh of relief before giving them their space back. "You can put me down you know."

"Don't be stupid. I found you, you're not going anywhere." Percy pauses and glances over his shoulder. "Aha."

Walking like this isn't the easiest thing Percy's ever done, but within a few moments he has Annabeth pressed back against the mainmast of the ship. Her legs are still around his waist and because he's able to hold her up using the pressure alone, he's free to bring his hand up to her face, the other finding one of Annabeth's and griping it like a lifeline.

"You found me?" Annabeth laughs again, softer this time, but a bit hysterical.

"I woke up knowing my name and that at some camp there was a blonde girl with grey that kisses me every time I say something stupid."

"Sea-"

Percy ignores her and keeps going, "I knew I missed her. So much it hurt like-" he stops abruptly and frowns for a moment, then his face brightens. "Like when you've been leaning on your hand for so long it completely uses circulation and you can't move your fingers. Only everywhere."

Annabeth looks about ready to laugh at him again, but stops and blinks at him in what Percy could only call bewildered shock. "That's... I've been trying to put it into words for six months."

Percy grins, but it slides away quickly as he gets serious again, "And I knew that," he takes a deep, shaking breath and lets it out slowly. They've never actually said it before, both convinced it was too soon.

Annabeth watches him patiently, slides her trembling fingers through his hair.

"I knew that I loved her. Love you. And gods that's terrifying enough normally-"

Annabeth's fingers tighten in his hair. "I never know if you're coming back."

It's barely more than a whisper, but Percy hears her anyway and somehow manages to push her father into the mast, the hand on her face moves so that his fingers are digging in to her hair. His forehead goes back to hers. He does it without thought, just trying to get closer to her. Her legs tighten around his waist. It's almost painful, but neither of them cares.

"I'll always come back."

"You can't promise that, not when they can pluck you out of the safest place for us and send you to the other side of the country because they feel like it."

Percy swallows, his throat tight, the words came to him in an instant. "If I don't, I'll be waiting." It's not something demigods normally talk about, it's too painful to think about, but it felt right.

Annabeth's hand grips the back of Percy's neck for a second, the next her lips crashed against his. There's nothing slow or sweet about it. No, this kiss is instantly all tongue, teeth and pure desperate need.

Percy's so surprised he takes a step back and Annabeth almost falls over without him to hold her up, but manages to get her feet under herself just in time. He flushes a red so deep he can feel it. "...oops?"

Annabeth winces as she straightens, her legs had gone completely numb, but she wastes no time pulling his face back down to hers. She stalls just before their lips touch again, so close that they brush against each other as she whispers, "I love you too, Seaweed Brain."

This time he's the one that kisses her.


End file.
